The Toronto Raptors who were once again plagued with an absurd amount of injuries faced off against the Sacramento Kings at home last night. The game went about how anyone could expect it to go, Sacramento was in control of the game from the end of the first quarter and they built a giant lead and never looked back.
The game began surprisingly well for Toronto. Sacramento wasn’t having a tough time scoring but neither was Toronto. Ochai Agbaji was being left open, and he capitalized on that by hitting jumpers and cutting toward the rim as well. Kelly Olynyk and Gary Trent Jr. had five points each
in the quarter which also helped keep the game from getting out of hand. At one point Toronto took the lead which prompted Mike Brown to call a timeout. Sacramento had a 32-27 lead heading into the second quarter and from this point beyond they turned it up a level and thoroughly dismantled Toronto.
Malik Monk and De’aaron Fox were seemingly unstoppable as both guards hit a wide array of difficult shots. Toronto’s defense at times was not bad but these two were making contested shots, spinning through traffic, fading away. Domantas Sabonis also didn’t have trouble with Toronto’s defense as he had a triple double with 13 points, 10 assists, and 17 rebounds. Toronto’s front court is quite small right now so that aided him in getting his 17 rebounds, 6 of which were offensive. Sabonis was just masterful last night at being a hub of offense and his contributions were one of the main reasons the lead got out of hand like it did.
On nights like last night it’s tough to draw many positives from it, but there are a few things that happened that should be highlighted. Gradey Dick did not shoot or score the ball well last night but he once again showed tenacity on defense and had a couple of nice reads as well. Dick is not a player who creates much offense for himself but he was a nice connective piece last night.
With all the injuries there were going to be plenty of opportunities for the end of bench guys to show their skills. No player took better advantage of their opportunity than Jahmi’us Ramsey. He scored 11 points and a good chunk of that was self created buckets. His speed on the ball was noteworthy, his handle looked strong, his finishing looked strong as well, and he showed he has a nose for off ball movement last night as well.
Most of the game last night was garbage time essentially, the Kings’ lead was insurmountable for the majority of the game. With all the injuries and personal woes that Raptors players are facing there will be plenty of nights like this. Darko Rajakovic still implants the blueprint for what he wants his offense to look like even on a night like last night. Olynyk led a lot of possessions and ran delay actions which is what Rajakovic most likely wants to be the case when Toronto is healthy as well. The actions are there, and sometimes there are great plays made, but with the roster as it is now, it’s tough for it to be consistent.
Toronto faces the OKC Thunder on friday night in what will most likely be an uphill climb again.
